


many a little makes a mickle

by heterocosmica



Series: Happy Snape family AU [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Don't Like Don't Read, Gen, Homemaking, Petunia doesn't like James, Physical Violence mentions, Recipes, Sewing, Verbal Abuse, and Snape unsettles her, and she has complicated big sister feelings about Lily, but she also doesn't hate him, familial abuse mentions, this is in a diary format so it's in first person
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-08-14 04:56:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16486310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heterocosmica/pseuds/heterocosmica
Summary: Petunia's diary from June 1978 to February 1981





	1. June 1978

**Author's Note:**

> This is a bit different from the other writings in the Happy Snape Family AU so far, in its concept and execution but I hope someone likes it because it's very fun to write and there's certainly going to be more of it. This piece in particular will have 33 chapters (one for each month).  
> If you want to check out more of this AU (including the edits) check out my [tumblr tag for it](http://heterocosmica.tumblr.com/tagged/snape-family).
> 
> *
> 
> comments on my fics are always moderated, hate will not be published, if you don't like Petunia (or Snape) just don't read this
> 
> *
> 
> tags will be added with chapters

Saturday, June 3rd 1978

Came back from tea at Ana's. M says it's sad how a girl who cooks so well and keeps the home so clean doesn't have any suitors. Apparently, 26 is too old to still be single. Ana keeps saying it's because she would never marry an Englishman but I've seen the way she speaks with Anthony, the one who works at the McNally shop, not the one who travels and sells vacuum cleaners. I think she's either waiting for him to propose before she takes him round to meet her parents, or she's waiting until she gets old enough for them not to care he's black (or English) as long as she doesn't end up alone. I think the English bit might be worse in their eyes. I don't know, the way I see it, if they really wanted her to marry a Yugoslav man, they should have stayed in Yugoslavia.

Recipe from Ana in number 27  
Hunter's schnitzels with onions (and mushrooms if there are mushrooms)  
Ingredients:  
750 g meat (beef or pork)  
50 g lard (pretty sure I can substitute that with oil but when I asked Ana she made a face like I asked about motor oil)  
8 onions (and around 200 g mushrooms)  
salt and pepper  
a bit of flour  
Method:  
Slice the meat into thin steaks. Beat the meat until it's very thin. Chop onions (and mushrooms) into small pieces. Grease up the meat, smear salt and pepper on it, and then dip only one side lightly into flour. Grease your dish (make sure it's a glass dish with a lid, lid needs to be greased too). Layer ingredients in order: onion (and mushroom) -> meat -> onion (and mushroom) -> meat … so you end with onion on top. Bake until everything is soft, tender, and done through.

Ana says to serve with a salad and bread but she didn't say what kind. I did have it at her place, though, and she served it with that cabbage salad she makes, the one where you grate the cabbage and season it with apple cider vinegar but I think that one is for heavier meals.  
It would probably go well with some sort of tomato salad. Fresh tomatoes go well with meat. Will try to serve it with that egg washed yeast bread D likes.

Sunday, June 4th 1978

L is playing that Boney M record. Has been playing it the whole day. I thought I'd get a calm Sunday, she was supposed to visit with one of her school friends but apparently, the girl sent a missive she was sick this morning so L has nothing to do.  
I suggested she go to the library or the pool but D said “Tuney, this is Lily's house, too. Your sister has been working hard lately, she deserves to get to rest however she likes during the weekend.” like I haven't been working in the secretary pool at G 8 hours a day, 6 days a week, and then coming home to clean and cook.  
Like it's too much for me to ask for a few hours without Rasputin, Russia's greatest love machine!  
But really, it's my fault. I should be used to all of this by now. After all, considering how insufferable they all were while L was just going to the special school, I should have known they were going to get even worse once she started training to become special police.  
The most she even does around the house is put her own clothes away after I do the washing. She could clean the whole house with one move of a stick but it never even occurs to her to offer to help out.  
Not that I want her to actually clean, she's crap at it and has abysmal cleanliness standards but still, it would be nice of her to offer.

Monday, June 5th 1978

Started reading some book Lola lent me on the train today. It's a pretty flimsy crime/romance but it's good enough and Lola really loved it so I figured I should give it a shot so we could talk about something other than work or her married boyfriend while we're working.  
I really don't understand what she's doing with a man who gives her nothing but lies, but I'm tired of trying to reason with her. Thus the book.  
The cover makes me a bit uneasy, though, especially since I've been reading it in public. It's got these two people, a man and a woman, embracing in a dark room, with white curtains floating in the air around them. Can't even imagine what people who see me reading it might be thinking.

Thursday, June 8th 1978

Bought new stockings with the money I've been setting aside from my pay check. They've got flowery lace that starts near the top of my thighs and goes all the way up. When I put them on this morning, they made me feel like I was wearing some really classy lingerie.  
Wore them all day today. Noticed men looking at me more than usual. I'd like to think it was because I was walking with more confidence today but I'm worried the case was that the lace showed through my skirt.  
Don't think I'll be wearing them again anytime soon. Will be hiding them in my scrap fabric chest so L doesn't find and “borrow” them.

Friday, June 9th 1978

There's a rumour around G that there's going to be a job opening outside of the pool. I so do wish I'd get the personal secretary job. It would mean a raise in pay and working for just one person which in turn would mean clearer instructions and less being yelled at by men who don't even know my name.  
Told M I was hoping to get it and she said “Oh, Tuney, I wouldn't get my hopes up. They're going to choose a girl who's good at her job.” She didn't even look at me as she said it.

Saturday, June 10th 1978

L brought over the boyfriend for tea.  
I made some fried cheese. Janine traded me the cheese yesterday, her family has a farm so they sent some over. I gave her that hat/scarf/glove set I knitted for L last winter. The one in three shades of brown I made before her brown coat ripped and she got a black one, so now it doesn't match.  
It was never worn so I traded it as new. And now I'm worried Janine might find out and stop trading with me. It would be a pretty big loss, they really do have the best cheese.  
And butter!  
I got the eggs from Ms. Snape two days ago when I walked little Snape back home from the station because those McNally boys were looking at her and it was rather late (and dark).  
Little Snape is still talking about becoming a barrister. Really hope she manages to, it would be rather good to know a barrister. People from this part of town don't really have access to that kind of thing.  
I'm not looking to use the girl, obviously, but people around here trade a lot and, well, legal security is something I'd trade a lot for.  
Didn't see S while I was there. Ms. Snape said him and MB were working with O'Donnell to clean out that empty lot behind the fish shop. It's going to be a park in a few months, apparently.  
O'Donnell gave the land and they organised a few other men so it gets built for free. I think it's because O'Donnell's got grandchildren now and the only other park we have is just full of rubbish.  
I don't know why she told me all of that. I didn't ask.

Right! So, L brought the boyfriend over for tea and I made fried cheese with toast (which he said was too greasy) and some orange rava kesari, just so we'd have something sweet, too.  
I used the orange juice from concentrate because the store had no fresh oranges, and loaded the thing up with raisins.  
Turns out the boyfriend doesn't like raisins either. Refused to eat (or drink; apparently we don't even make tea right now).  
M got mad at me and said I should have checked with L about what he likes to eat (after he left). L said she didn't know he was such a picky eater either. So M got mad at us both.  
I wish L hadn't said anything.  
When M is mad at us both, she starts angrily cleaning and today she started with my room.  
L and I were in the kitchen, sharing the boyfriend's helping of rava kesari when M stormed into the kitchen and threw that book Lola lent me (the one with the racy picture on the cover) at my head.  
She spent the next half hour yelling how her daughter wasn't going to be a whore and how she was going to be checking mine and L's bags every day after we come home from work from now on.  
Of course, she also set Lola's book on fire. Don't know what to tell Lola.

Wondering why L doesn't want D to meet the boyfriend. He's bound to love the special rich boy. Maybe she thinks D would embarrass her in front of the posh arse?

*Recipe for (orange) rava kesari in notebook 6 (May 1975); recipe for fried cheese in notebook 2 (November 1965)

Monday, June 12th 1978

Lola's not talking to me anymore even though I gave her the money to replace the book.  
Got Emma by Jane Austen from the library, started reading it on the train. Should last me the whole week, it's pretty thick. Not sure I like the Emma character though.

Wednesday, 14th June 1978

Word is definitely out. There is a job opening for a new junior accounts executive's personal secretary. Wondering what this Vernon Dursley man would be like to work for.  
Lola's still not talking to me so I had to take lunch alone. Swung by to check Mr. Dursley out from a distance. He seems very young to be getting his own secretary already. As far as I can tell, he's barely 30 and it shows.  
He's very tame and timid when talking to his superiors but doesn't seem to be able to control his temper when faced with tiny inconveniences.  
Maybe someone else should get to work for him. I'm not one to just let someone yell at me in public and I wouldn't want to get fired over putting too much sugar into the coffee of an angry man but, oh the money… I think I'd endure for the money. 

Friday, June 16th 1978

Ran into S on the train to work this morning. He saw me reading Emma and asked if it was any good. I said I didn't know if I really liked Emma because she's a meddling busybody oblivious to what people around her want or care about. He laughed and said “Like you?” I wish I had the presence of mind to step on his foot or kick him because I spent the rest of the day seething.

Sunday, June 18th 1978

L needed a new sundress. She chose the pattern number 6406 from that Italian magazine Richard McNally gave me a few weeks ago hoping I'd kiss him (right, like I'm some kind of slag). Insisted on yellow even though it makes her look like a child. Spent the whole weekend sewing it for her. Then she refused to wear it because, as she said, she had nowhere special to go.  
Tried to talk me into going for a movie but I didn't have money for the ticket so I said no. Of course I didn't tell her why. I know she would have paid for me but I just don't feel comfortable taking her money like that, she's just a child. We both stayed at home.

Monday, June 19th 1978

Started reading Against the fall of night by Arthur Clarke. It's much too quick a read. I'll probably finish it on the train tomorrow morning. Thankfully, I also got Daisy Miller by Henry James and A woman of no importance by Oscar Wilde for this week. Hopefully, I won't have to resort to borrowing one of L's books.

Tuesday, June 20th 1978

Lola is talking to me again. Probably because Mr. Useless told her yesterday that his wife is pregnant.  
She gave me a recipe for quick and easy scones. Seems a bit lazy but if it works, who am I to judge?

Quick butter scones  
Ingredients:  
250 g flour  
75 g butter  
1 teaspoon of baking powder  
½ glass of milk  
1 cup of sour cream  
1 egg yolk  
cumin, salt  
Method:  
Mix ingredients, spread the dough to 1 cm thickness, cut into scones, bake on a greased pan.

Friday, June 23rd 1978

Elizabeth told us that the new position will be filled sometime in July. Our performance over the next few weeks is, apparently, vital. For some reason, I thought they would check all of our work but if it's just the next few weeks, they could pick anyone.

Saturday, June 24th 1978

Went with L to the movies. Watched Death on the Nile. I don't like Peter Ustinov as Poirot. He just doesn't fit with the image of Poirot that I have in my head.

Sunday, June 25th 1978

Got some nice dark green patterned cotton so I could make myself a new suit for work. I have an orange shirt that suits me well and this would go nicely and get me noticed for that job. I think that 6402 pattern from that Modellina magazine issue (I know it's from last year but it's Italian and I'm pretty sure someone once told me Italian fashion is eternal). And, besides, it's not like it could hurt.

Monday, June 26th 1978

At the library asked if they had a biography of Agatha Christie of some sort. Walked out with The murder of Roger Ackroyd and Murder is easy by Agatha Christie.

Thursday, June 29th 1978

Ran into S on the way to work again. He asked if I was mad at him because I didn't say hi. In all honesty, I was but I certainly wasn't going to tell him that. So I said “I just didn't see you. Can't you see I'm reading?” And he had the gall to ask if me reading a crime mystery meant I was planning on murdering L and her boyfriend!  
I told him I obviously wouldn't murder my sister! I mean would he murder his? So he said “But I love my sister.”  
In a rather childish move (that made me feel so good) I slapped him over the head with the paperback of Murder is easy.  
I was going to do it again but he grabbed my wrist with one of his bony hands and, laughing, said “Oh don't be such a child, Petunia! I just wanted to say if you're planning on offing Potter, I could hook you up with poison.”  
As if I would ever poison anyone!  
And then have people saying my cooking killed them! How on Earth would I find a husband with a rumour of my cooking killing people!? I know he probably wants to die alone but that's not me. And I'd like to move away from my parents eventually.  
I pushed him away and pulled my hand back but, I swear, I could feel his fingers around my wrist and hear his laughter behind me for the rest of the day. I just know I'm going to wake up with a bruise there.

Friday, June 30th 1978

It didn't occur to me yesterday but, why is S going into the city so often lately? It's not like he's found a job. Someone would have said something. Ms. Snape would have bragged about it. She brags about him all the time, even when he does nothing. And I saw her in the market on Tuesday and she definitely didn't mention anything that would explain him going to the city every week. Maybe he's hiding it from her? Or maybe he's seeing someone in the city?  
L is bringing the boyfriend by next weekend to meet D we're supposed to pretend we've never met him. Should think up a menu by Wednesday.


	2. July 1978

Monday, July 3rd 1978

Started reading War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. I only took it out of the library because when I said I liked reading and Stuart asked if I'd read War and Peace, I said no and he looked at me like I was stupid. That from a man who works as a secretary! So when I was at the library on Saturday and I saw it on a shelf, I loaned it out out of spite, determined to hate it. I regret to admit I've been loving it so far.

Janine gave me a booklet about tending to fish this morning. She said it's a hobby men might find interesting enough to talk about and that it might help me get a suitor. Kind of like those military aeroplane models she makes.  
I told her I live with my family and can't exactly be bringing men over to look at my fish anytime I please and she laughed and said I oughtn't be bringing men over to see my fish until they were seriously courting me anyway. I think that was her attempt at being crass and clever but I didn't have the heart to tell her I've heard so much worse around my neighbourhood when I was far younger so I pretended not to understand.

There is something compelling about the idea of having a small pet all of my own, however, something that could be just mine and love me as long as I feed it. Don't think I'd like a fish though. Maybe a parakeet? Will look up parakeet care in the library.

Wednesday, July 5th 1978

Mr. Dursley came by the pool today and said something about how he wanted an “assistant” who was hard working and diligent, with great attention to detail. Mr. Wilson was there with him and he picked Lola to go up and work for Mr. Dursley temporarily.   
Mr. Dursley never looked at any of us. He seemed uncomfortable. Mr. Wilson obviously picked Lola to make it up to her for the whole pregnant wife situation. If I were in her shoes, I would have rejected the position.   
I cannot imagine being actually in her shoes.  
I'd never be that stupid. 

Should have worn my hair in that braided updo I wore during the holidays. I've been told before I have a rather elegant neck.

Spent the evening trying to come up with a good menu for the boyfriend's visit. D asked for some of his favourites but L says the boyfriend can't bear spice so I guess that's a no. Will try to figure it out by Friday so I could buy everything on Saturday morning.

Friday, July 7th 1978

L panicking. Boyfriend us coming on Sunday and she insists she has nothing to wear. I told her I would have made her a new skirt if I didn't have to also cook for his highness the prat. Not using those words, obviously  
M told me L's poor planning means I have to lend her my silk skirt. I'd rather not, I wanted to wear it myself, but special L gets my skirt, I guess. I just bet she'll stain it like she did my maroon office skirt!

Menu for the boyfriend:  
Mild fish curry (L insists he'll eat it)  
Raita  
Mini custard tarts (that he must eat. He is English, is he not?) 

Need to buy onions, fish, tomatoes, and get eggs from Ms. Snape tomorrow morning.

Saturday, July 8th 1978

Saw S at his home. His mother was out but he gave me the eggs and I gave him those shoes I got from Aunty in March. The too small ones. Perhaps little Snape could wear them to school, they are quite respectable.  
S asked after L and the boyfriend. I did not entertain his desire for gossip. Who does he think I am?

Sunday, July 9th 1978

What a strange day. What an uncomfortable boy the boyfriend is. Hope L sees the light and is rid of him after today.

Wednesday, July 12th 1978

Oh how dreadfully boring it is to sit at a desk alone. Lola is to stay with Mr. Dursley until the next week at least and I have been spending workdays not speaking a word.

Book on parakeet care seems interesting but it says they are loud and I do not think M and D would allow me to keep one.

Friday, July 14th 1978

L is still with boyfriend. D has not spoken to her since Sunday.

Monday, July 17 1978

I'm nearing the end of War and Peace. I've mostly enjoyed it, really. I'd never tell Stuart, though. And to think this morning I had the urge to thank him for the recommendation! We were standing by the stove, heating up water for tea, and he was silent so for a long moment of weakness, I almost felt fond of him. I was just about to say 'You know, Stuart, I've really been enjoying War and Peace’ when he opened his mouth and I remembered, this was Stuart.

Truly, I'm missing Lola. She's staying with Mr. Dursley for another week and the hens in the pool have been bartering and making plans for her desk. Stuart has actually been the most vocal and willing to claim it. I wish he wasn't. He's the only man in the pool and, while the men higher up don't think much of a man working as a secretary, they still regard him higher than the rest of us. So if he wants the spot he'll get it and then I'd have to spend my days trying to ignore the stupidity that tends to come out of his mouth.  
Oh and his bragging!  
Honestly, the man is all piss and wind! What does a bloke from West Brampton know about life? Nothing! 

Friday, July 21st 1978

Saw S on the train again. I almost felt glad. He didn't see me, he was riding with a girl. One of L's school friends, I forget the name. They were talking quietly about something that, judging by their faces, must have been serious. They got off three stops before ours.

Sunday, July 23rd 1978

Went by Ana's for tea. She played some new record in her language while we talked. I have to admit, the songs are catchy. Perhaps they would be even more so if they were understandable but, oh well.

I think I've heard S talk in that language before. Serbian, I think? Or Serbo-Croatian as Ana calls it. I wonder if that is the kind of music he and little Snape listen to. Is that the language their mother speaks? I think I heard Mr. Snape speak in a foreign language once, when I was at a pub to pay D's bill but I could have sworn that was Russian.

D is still ignoring L (and now M and me, as well) so I went to Ana’s in the hopes of breaking the tension but when I came back, everyone was still cross and none of my chores were done so today was a waste.

Tuesday, July 25th 1978

When I got home from work, the boyfriend was here. Yelling at D. I just quietly went to my room and now I'm here, waiting for the yelling to stop.

D approves of the boyfriend now. Apparently, the boyfriend came to ask D's permission to propose to L. She doesn't know yet, she wasn't home when I got back.

I hope she says no.

Saturday, July 29th 1978

L still doesn't seem to know. None of us have said anything but M has been looking at L and then bursting into tears every so often. D tried to excuse it by saying M is 'going through the change’ but even L knows the change doesn't come at 42.   
L tried to ask me about several times it but I have been avoiding her.

Saw Ms. Snape at the market. She said little Snape liked the shoes.   
S was with her but he kept his tongue in check, as he does around his mother. He seemed himself but also not. Perhaps something happened with that girl?

Sunday, July 30th 1978

Went with L to the pool. Finally got to wear the bathing suit I made last summer. Looking at other girls’ mine seemed a bit outdated but by far the highest quality. L looked lovely, too.   
Men and boys were staring at her and I wanted to yell, tell her to cover up. With D's hair she just can't be missed. But then I thought, none of them are approaching her, or harassing her. Every single one of them was a better man than the boyfriend. More composed, more decent, more competent. I thought, perhaps she could see there are better men out there just waiting for her before she does the stupid thing and says yes to her pet donkey.  
And then, like a curse from up above, S and MB jumped the fence and literally fell down in front of us. 

Monday, July 31st 1978

Lola has been sniffling the whole day so she has been told to stay home from work tomorrow. Mr. Wilson said I was to fill in for her with Mr. Dursley for as long as she's sick. He also made sure I understood that my filling in was only temporary, nothing more, and that I would be going back to the pool as soon as she gets back. What a prick that man is, honestly…

Now that I've finished War and Peace, I don't know what to read next. I wish for something that would take me on the same kind of a grandiose adventure, I want it to be an experience, but nothing seems right.  
When I told Janine that, she said I should ask Stuart for another recommendation, so I had to throw a typewriter ribbon at her. I just had to.

**Author's Note:**

> All the recipes are real. However, I suggest not treating the recipes as correct unless Petunia says she tried them. If there's a reference to a recipe (or you want to try a correct version of the recipe), feel free to ask me but they will also be posted in either a different part of this work or further works from Petunia's POV in this series.
> 
> If you'd like to see the pictures of the things she sews find them in my [tumblr tag for it](http://heterocosmica.tumblr.com/tagged/snape-family) and if you'd like patterns for specific things, message me and I will scan and send them asap.
> 
> *
> 
> Welcoming any feedback!


End file.
